NPS Safety Communication Challenges at Yellowstone

Overview of the National Park Service and Yellowstone

The National Park Service (NPS) is assigned responsibility by the U.S. federal government for managing national parks, historical properties, national monuments, and other conservancies. Its primary duties include protection of the parks and their visitors, maintenance, recreation, and promotion of the country's natural resources. However, national park rangers and other employees often must navigate various obstacles in their efforts to facilitate safe interactions between citizens and nature. This paper examines several challenges faced by Yellowstone National Park, drawing on the inspiring story of Ranger Anny Pidgin — who was passionate about national parks from a young age — and on various visitor experiences at the park.

The Main Communication Challenge Facing the NPS

The main communication challenge faced by the NPS is how to convey the importance of all rules, regulations, notices, and signs placed strategically throughout national parks, and how to warn visitors of the serious danger they expose themselves to by ignoring them — as they frequently do. As signage in Yellowstone increased in response to numerous injuries, the number of accidents also increased as visitor numbers continued to grow.

For instance, there were multiple signs around Giantess Geyser, yet a young boy managed to venture through the formations and subsequently suffered serious burn injuries on his feet. Another example involves Engine Walker and his friend Phillip Bradberry, who skipped their interactions with rangers and consequently did not receive the required literature outlining rules and regulations. They proceeded to camp in an unauthorized section of the park, and as a result, Walker was attacked and killed by a grizzly bear.

Social Influence and Its Relevance to Visitor Behavior

According to Coon and Mitterer (2013), the behavior of individuals in social interactions is shaped by the way other people act. The mere presence effect describes the tendency of people to perform simple tasks better when others are watching. Conformity, by contrast, describes the tendency to change one's attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs in order to fit in with a particular group. Compliance describes the act of adhering to rules or carrying out requests made by others — doing what is asked, even if one personally disagrees.

The most relevant form of social influence in this scenario is compliance. Private preferences sometimes must be set aside for the well-being of all park visitors. Compliance requires an individual to submit to those in authority (Coon and Mitterer, 2013). Yellowstone's management and employees know what is best for visitors when they establish rules and regulations, and those rules should be followed regardless of personal intentions or preferences.

An Example of Visitor Disregard for Safety Warnings

One particularly striking example involves visitors who did not internalize the dangers described in posted warnings. David Kirwan and his friend Ronald Ratliff were fully aware that the hot springs they were admiring were extremely dangerous. However, when Ratliff's dog jumped into the water, Kirwan — to the disbelief of fellow visitors who warned him against it — dove headfirst into the hot spring in an attempt to save the animal. Kirwan sustained third-degree burns and died the following morning. Rangers later found a stack of unopened safety pamphlets and literature in the visitors' car.

A Messaging Strategy to Discourage Dangerous Behavior

The case above demonstrates that NPS signs and literature are not being adequately understood or internalized by visitors. An effective strategy the agency could adopt is to incorporate specific incident narratives — such as the one described above — into maps, pamphlets, and other literature distributed to visitors. Every dangerous site marked on a park map should include a brief account of what happened when a visitor disregarded the rules at that specific location: what they did, and what the consequences were.

These stories should be designed to be educational rather than fear-inducing. A practical approach is to place them directly alongside the specific rules that apply to each dangerous site, highlighted so they catch the reader's eye. They should be concise and clear, communicating the consequences of disregarding safety rules without overwhelming the reader. Rangers can also recount these stories verbally during visitor interactions, reducing the likelihood that people will dismiss written literature without reading it.

Research into why visitors ignore warning signs in parks suggests that visitors are often absorbed in the spirit of adventure and assume that posted rules are no different from those they already know. By highlighting accounts of what happened to other visitors in specific situations, safety literature may prompt people to pause and reflect on particular behaviors they should avoid — making the warning personally relevant rather than generic.

Conclusion

As much as national parks express the beauty of nature to citizens, the NPS faces a significant challenge in keeping parks and their resources safe while educating the public on the measures they can take to protect both themselves and the natural environment they come to enjoy. Although a variety of safety procedures, literature, and regulations have been developed for this purpose, visitors rarely take the time to understand and apply them. The NPS should employ appropriate strategies to reinforce compliance among the public. One such strategy is to share accounts of experiences other visitors have had as a result of poor judgment and disregard for established rules. Persuasion is an effective communication tool that can attract visitors' attention to message contents and motivate safer behavior throughout the park.

References

Coon, D. & Mitterer, J. O. (2013). Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.

Stiff, J. B. & Mongeau, P. A. (2003). Persuasive Communication (2nd ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.